


and the snakes start to sing

by tia37



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Human Experimentation, Angst, F/M, Gen, Gore, Horror, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Slow Burn, Unethical Experimentation, don't look at me like that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-17 10:11:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13074687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tia37/pseuds/tia37
Summary: Talent is well known throughout the world. Those who develop talent are blessed with special powers, such as heightened physical prowess or the ability to influence luck around them, and have the ability to combat despair. Hope's Peak Academy is a school for those who have talent.The Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles is for those who don't.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **If you're under the legal age of consent in your resident country or the kind of person who's easily triggered by stuff (death, gore, violence, rape/noncon, suicide, abuse, self harm, mental illness, blahblahblahthislistisnonexhaustive), close this fic. _Do not come back._**  
> 
> [20180103: changed rating from 'mature' to 'explicit', added rape/noncon and underage into tags]
> 
> If Hope's Peak can give a high school kid a lobotomy, who says they can't kidnap a bunch of high school kids and give them all lobotomies?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, with 10 drafts and an incomplete work, finals looming over my shoulder: I should start a new project
> 
> Vaguely based on NDRV3's Despair Dungeon mode.

Saihara woke up with a pounding headache.

He sat up and clutched his head, squeezing his eyes shut and breathing to tide himself over the pain. His ragged breaths echoed throughout the room for a good few minutes before the pain receded, allowing him to examine his surroundings closely.

The first thing he realized was that he did not recognize where he was. The second thing was that he did not have his hat.

He was sitting in a pristine, white room with no windows or decorations whatsoever. There was a jug of water on a table by his bed and a stool for someone to sit on, but that was all that was in the room. He shifted and looked down at his clothing and saw that he was dressed not in his usual clothes but a hospital gown.

A hospital? Did he get into an accident or some sort? He looked at the IV inserted into the vein in his wrist. That was the only possibility for him to be in a hospital right now. But no matter how much he tried to remember, it eluded him. As soon as he grasped that memory in his hands, it slipped through his fingers and disappeared. And if he tried too hard to hold on to it, his head pounded and forced him to release his hold on it.

In between Saihara trying to recall what happened, a man with disheveled white hair and a long green coat walked in. Despite his face lacking any wrinkles, his hair was all white. He gave Saihara a cursive, condescending glance before closing the door shut with a click and picking up the clipboard at the foot of Saihara's bed. He hummed, dissatisfied. "Looks like this one survived the procedure. Saihara Shuichi, male, age 16. Affinity for magic, hmm?"

"P-procedure?" Saihara stammered out.

The man shushed him. "Talentless trash like you doesn't get to ask questions. You just sit back, relax, and let the talented imbue you with true hope!"

"T-talent? Hope? What are you talking about?" As soon as Saihara said that, he felt a blinding pain around his neck, tightening, _choking-_

"If you disobey any of us Handlers, you'll get a shock via your collar." The man explained absently, still flipping through Saihara's clipboard. "Though each progressing shock gets worse, it resets one level after a week of good behavior. Once you get to three strikes, a lethal poison is injected into your veins that kills you slowly and painfully."

The physical pain of being electrocuted combined with the thought of death pushed Saihara over the edge. He brought his knees to his chest and shivered violently, fat tears rolling down his face. Embarrassed to be watched crying by a complete stranger (who was also completely uncaring towards his plight), Saihara buried his face into his knees and tried to drown out everything around him.

The man hooked the clipboard back at foot of Saihara's bed and sat on the stool beside his bed. He reached out to pet Saihara's hair soothingly. "Aww, don't cry. The Ultimate Initiative has chosen you, talentless trash from nowhere in particular, to receive talent! You should be proud to be a stepping stone for the masses' hope!"

Because Saihara was afraid to be shocked again, he forced himself to calm down. He took a deep, gulping breath and wiped his tears away frantically with his sleeve, covering his eyes as he did so. The action of shielding his face brought him some form of comfort and the mysterious man did not specifically tell him not to do it, so he assumed it was allowed. 

Everyone had heard of the Ultimate Initiative. The Ultimate Initiative scouted people with talent known as Ultimates. These talents manifested in many different ways, from using their voice to charm people to the ability to influence luck around them. Heightened physical prowess was the most common talent, while magical powers were the rarest but most useful in the eyes of the government. 

The Ultimate Initiative scouted people with talent for many reasons. Some joined the military or police, some used their talent for research while some worked in civil service. Most, however, worked solely to combat the supernatural forces known only as Despair. Regardless of what they chose to do, those with talents were highly regarded by society in general and received numerous benefits from the government.

However, Saihara was just a normal, talentless boy. He wished he had talent over the years, but he had never developed one. The Ultimate Initiative should want nothing to do with him, yet here he was. The man claimed the Ultimate Initiative 'chose him' to 'receive talent', but what did that mean? Talent was not something that could be received or given freely. You had to be born with a certain aptitude, and even then you needed to work hard to hone your talent. There was no way he could receive talent in any way.

Before he could continue that thought, another person opened the door. Saihara raised his head to take a look at the newcomer and was surprised to see that the brown-haired man possessed heterochromia. One red and green eye, just like the rumored Kamukura Izuru who possessed every single talent known to man. Other than the heterochromia, the other man looked completely normal in a simple button up T-shirt and black pants.

"Komaeda, stop terrorizing the newcomers," the other man intoned.

The white-haired man - Komaeda? - practically threw himself at the brown-haired man with a starry-eyed expression, but to Saihara's shock the brown-haired man just flung Komaeda out of the room with a flick of his wrist. Luckily, there were some spare mattresses being moved right outside so Komaeda simply landed face-first into them, sustaining minimal injuries.

The other man sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He looked at a shell-shocked Saihara then at his palm, concentrating to make it glow a soft green. He placed the glowing palm on Saihara's forehead, pushing him back onto the bed gently but firmly.

"Rest. Tomorrow, your training will begin."

Saihara wanted to protest, but the brown haired man obviously had some kind of talent that allowed him to make other people fall asleep. He let sleep claim him, but not before he saw the undeniable pity in the other man's eyes.

* * *

When Saihara woke up, he was tied to a chair. His arms were handcuffed behind him and his legs were tied to the legs of the chair. He tried to break free but with his average strength, he was stuck. The room he was in reminded him of an interrogation room, with its bleak walls and a one way mirror.

Opposite him sat a woman with long, lavender hair at a desk. She was dressed like a crisp white button up and an office skirt, but the aura she gave off told Saihara she was no mere office drone. She sat cross legged with her arms crossed in front of her, obviously waiting for Saihara to notice her. "My name is Kirigiri Kyoko. I am the Ultimate Detective and the leader of the 14th Division of the Future Foundation." She gestured to Saihara with a gloved hand. "You may ask a maximum of three questions before we proceed to the next phase of testing."

He had heard of Kirigiri Kyoko. She was one of the more prominent members of the Future Foundation, being the youngest leader of one of its divisions. According to public government records, she started out as a detective at the tender age of thirteen and only rose from there. Her supernatural ability, surprisingly, was not related to deduction or analysis; it was psychokinesis, the ability to move things from a distance.

"Is my uncle okay?" Saihara blurted out.

"He is worried, but ultimately unharmed and in good health. He filed a police report after realizing you were missing, but you will likely not be 'found' anytime soon Everyone with living relatives will get periodic updates on their loved ones, so do not worry."

Saihara let out a huge sigh of relief. It put his mind at ease to know that his uncle was alive and well. He hoped that his uncle would forget about him and move on with his life soon. 

He had two questions left. What should he ask? Saihara thought hard. That Komaeda guy mentioned something about the Ultimate Initiative and giving the talentless talent, but Saihara had been electrocuted when he tried to ask about it. Since Kirigiri was giving him the chance to ask questions, he decided to take it. "What does the Ultimate Initiative want with me?" he asked.

"The Ultimate Initiative has selected you to be a part of their experiment. The experiment involves cultivating talent in so-called 'talentless' individuals by means of human experimentation. Fourteen other high school students - and a robot - have survived the initial procedure so far. You are the last of their numbers."

Saihara's blood ran cold. Human experimentation? That sounded like something out of a horror novel. But the look on Kirigiri's face told him that she was being serious, that every word that came out of her mouth was the truth. He resisted the urge to break down and asked his final question.

"How do I get out?" Saihara whispered brokenly.

"Graduation. However, even after graduation, you will be tied to the Future Foundation by a blood oath. You will be unable to tell any outsiders of your years here, and should the Future Foundation require your abilities you are oathbound to answer their call."

"So there's hope that I can get out. Right?" he asked pleadingly.

Kirigiri did not respond. She simply looked at him with an unchanging expression. He had used up all his questions, after all. She was under no obligation to respond to him.

He took in a deep breath after a few minutes. "I'm ready."

She closed her eyes and got up, flicking her hair as she did so. "Very well, we shall start with the second phase of testing." She snapped her fingers and the handcuffs fell apart, freeing Saihara from his shackles. She led him out of the room and down a dimly lit hallway, Saihara stumbling to keep up. He considered attacking her from behind now that he was free of his restraints but thought better of it. She was an Ultimate, and he was just a normal boy. He would not be able to defeat her even if he got the drop on her.

Saihara traced the black metal collar around his neck. He did not know what would happen if he failed.

Eventually, they reached their destination. Saihara stepped into the room and flinched as the door closed abruptly behind him. He turned around and touched it with his palm. It was solid metal, nothing he could get through unless they let him out. He turned to survey the room and found that it was like the others; plain, white, bare, with a one-way mirror on the opposite side of the room and a table in the middle. Saihara walked over to the table and saw a pile of clothes on it. A white tracksuit with blue stripes running down the sides of his sleeves and his pants. 

Kirigiri's voice echoed through the speakers in the room. "Get changed."

"I-in front of you?" Saihara squeaked.

"It's not just me, there are many other researchers watching. Get used to it."

Blushing furiously, Saihara turned around and hid behind the small table, quickly stripping himself of the hospital gown and pulling on the tracksuit. He did not want to get naked in front of a bunch of strangers, but he did not want to get shocked either. The faster he got changed, the sooner his embarrassment would end.

"Unlike Iruma Miu, this subject is rather shy."

Saihara could practically hear the distaste in Kirigiri's voice. " _That_  one is an outlier. It would be better to compare him to someone like Momota Kaito. His reaction was comparatively normal for a teenage boy,  _and_  they're the same gender."

Once Saihara was done changing, he turned around to face the one-way mirror, unable to look at it directly. To think he had gotten changed in front of a group of strangers, and that he had to face them now-

Saihara buried his face in his hands. Even his ears were burning.

"Yup, definitely one of the shyer ones." Unknown female voice.

"I'd rank him on the level of K1-B0 in terms of embarrassment. Any disagreements?" Unknown male voice.

Apparently there were no objections because they proceeded to the next phase of testing. The floor opened up and swallowed up the table, replacing it with another table that had three ordinary rocks of three different sizes.

Again, Kirigiri's voice rang throughout the room. "Do not worry about restraining your talent. This is a reinforced room. We are here to check if your talent has manifested correctly."

"T-talent? I don't have a talent," Saihara protested.

"Try," Kirigiri urged. "You should know instinctively what to do." 

How could he try? It was not as if he could develop a talent overnight. But the weight of the collar rested around his neck, so Saihara closed his eyes and held his hand in front of him. Then he concentrated the feelings in his hands and  _pulled_.

"Success. He has the same talent as you, Kirigiri." Male voice.

Saihara opened one eye, curious at what success they were talking about, and jolted back at the sight. The smallest rock was levitating. 

Because his focus broke, the rock collapsed to the ground, but it was undeniable that for those few seconds the rock was floating above the air. Him, a normal, talentless boy, had made an inanimate object levitate with his mind. A rush of adrenaline flowed through him. He had always wished to be an Ultimate, and now he had gotten a talent. It was everything he had dreamed about and more.

"It seems to be much weaker than Kirigiri-san's abilities." Female voice. "What can we do? He's not a true Ultimate. Just a normal human implanted with Kirigiri-san's abilities."

That hurt. Saihara knew that Ultimates tended to look down on the talentless, but to be told to his face that he was worthless... it stung more that he wanted to admit. Regardless, he had gained some information over the course of the testing (which, admittedly, was not as bad as he thought it would be).

If Saihara was correct, there were only three people behind the one-way mirror. Kirigiri, an unknown male and an unknown female. There may be other people, but they were not actively participating in the experimentation. Three people, all of them likely Ultimates. If he did not trust himself to get away from Kirigiri while she was alone, how could he trust himself to escape a reinforced room with three Ultimates?

"I suggest you mentor him, Kirigiri-san. His abilities greatly mirror your own, so you would be able to instruct him better than anyone else."

"Very well, Enoshima-san."

So the mysterious female voice was called Enoshima. Somehow that name sounded familiar, like he should recognize it from somewhere, but like the memory of how he got kidnapped it slipped through his fingers before he could fully grasp it.

"Shall we proceed to the final phase?" the male researcher asked.

"Ooh, I can't wait!" Enoshima cooed. 

Saihara paled. "There's... more?" The effort of making the rock levitate for those few seconds had already exhausted him completely. Sweat was dripping down the sides of his face and soaking his tracksuit, and he was barely able to keep standing.

"Tojo-san, after the last phase of testing, seal his wounds to stop the bleeding but do not heal him completely. Gokuhara-kun, please carry him back to his room after you are done," Kirigiri commanded. He did not hear a response from his side of the room but he knew the two people - Tojo and Gokuhara - must have given an affirmative because the last phase of testing started. 

Guns appeared out of nowhere - they must have been an ability because Saihara did not see them pop up from the walls, but that was not the point - and started shooting at him. Saihara knew what the researchers wanted him to do; they wanted him to stop or at least dodge the bullets with his newfound talent, but he did not know how to use his powers and even if he did, he would be too tired to.

A bullet hit him in the thigh. He screamed and fell to one knee. "Stop! Please, stop!" Saihara clawed at the ground, trying to find a platform that would allow him to pull himself up, but to no avail. Another bullet pierced his stomach, causing him to vomit blood from his mouth. He tried to speak again but all that would come out were gurgles. He fell to the ground face first, consciousness fading in and out.

"That's it? Laaaame," Enoshima sighed. 

"Break a bone for the healing data, please." Something hit Saihara in the arm, causing a sickening crunch to echo throughout the room. "Want to take a pinky finger for the blood pact, Kirigiri?"

"I want to do it with him conscious. Tojo-san, Gokuhara-kun, you may enter now."

Saihara heard the door whistle open, but he could barely comprehend as the world faded to black.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Komaeda's Ultimate Bullshit)
> 
> Unlike all my other fics, I don't have a particularly detailed plan for this (as you can see from the unknown number of chapters). I know vaguely where it's going, but this draft is not as detailed as the others. So. Forgive me if this comes across as self-indulgent trash, because in the end that's what it is.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **If you're under the legal age of consent in your resident country or the kind of person who's easily triggered by stuff (death, gore, violence, rape/noncon, suicide, abuse, self harm, mental illness, blahblahblahthislistisnonexhaustive), close this fic. _Do not come back._** No seriously. I planned the fic out and it turned out to be grosser than I initially thought it would be. This is your last chance to turn back.
> 
> I was supposed to update 'vinegar and lemons', but I found a major plothole in the second chapter so :/ enjoy this piece of trash instead. Studying biomedical ethics inspires me to write this shit guys, you don't know how fucked up everything is.
> 
> Also, happy new year fuckers

As Saihara's eyes fluttered open, he set his eyes on an angel hovering above him.

"Ah, you're awake!" The angel exclaimed. "Do you need anything? Water? Hold on, I'll get Tojo-san." The angel left, leaving Saihara alone in the room. 

He stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, unable to find the energy to move. He hoped that the past day was just a nightmare but he was not back in his room with his uncle outside yelling at him to get ready for school. It was true, he had been kidnapped and forced to be a human experiment by the Ultimate Initiative. Maybe he had died in the last experiment and they were here to take his soul.

The first angel came back with a second angel, who placed a gentle hand on his forehead. "Akamatsu-san, I would like to request you leave Saihara-kun's room for the moment. I need to change his bandages, and that means I have to take off his pants."

If they needed to change his bandages, that meant he was still alive. And if he was still alive, that meant they were not really angels. Saihara flushed as he processed that thought, then he flushed harder as he realized what the second girl said about taking off his pants.

The first girl colored. "O-oh. Yes, of course." She left, leaving him alone with the second girl.

The second girl worked swiftly, first helping Saihara sit up in bed then inspecting Saihara's broken arm and working her way down to his stomach wound. He hissed in pain when she touched it, but she worked fast enough that he could tolerate the pain. He tried to turn his head away when she pulled down his pants and cleaned his wound, but he could still feel her cool touch on his bare skin. 

When she was done, she pulled his pants back up and handed him a glass of water. He took it with his good hand. "Are you feeling better, Saihara-kun?"

"W-who are you?" he croaked, still unable to face her. His throat was dry. He took a sip, letting the cool liquid refresh his throat.

"Ah, my apologies. How rude of me. My name is Tojo Kirumi, and I am a student in this facility."

Tojo. That name sounded familiar, but Saihara's head was still swimming slightly and he could not concentrate enough to remember where he heard that name from. Though one thing did stand out to him. "That means you're also- the Ultimate Initiative-"

She nodded once. "Yes, we are in the same boat. My abilities are related to healing, so I will be taking care of you until your wounds heal. I am unfortunately not allowed to heal you with my magic because the researchers want to study your baseline level of healing, but I will clean and dress your wounds accordingly."

So this was the Tojo who had been asked to heal him back at the testing area. Saihara assumed that those who were observing were all researchers and that none of the students were allowed to step into the area unless they were the ones being experimented on, but apparently he was wrong. She must be a reliable person for even their captives to trust her with such a task. 

"T-then thank you, Tojo-san. I am in your care," he responded. 

Now that Saihara knew her name, he could look at her... somewhat. She had grey, bobbed hair and matching eyes, and she was dressed in a simple, sleeveless black dress that went down to her knees. The black collar around her neck stood out the most, as did the matching bracelets around her wrists. Saihara saw that there was a silver ring around her left pinky finger.

"Think nothing of it. I do this for every student in the facility." She stood up, apparently done with dressing Saihara's wounds. "Would you like to meet Akamatsu-san? If you're not feeling up to it I can tell her, but she does seem rather eager to meet you."

Saihara shook his head. "I don't mind. I think I'd like to meet her."

Tojo's mouth twitched up a little. "Very well. I will send for her." She opened the door and left, and almost immediately the first girl popped her head in. She slid in and took a seat on the stool beside Saihara's bed.

"Hello, Saihara-kun," she introduced herself. "My name is Akamatsu Kaede."

Saihara blushed. She was very pretty, she was in the same room as him and they were alone in said room. "Ah, hello, Akamatsu-san. It seems everyone already knows who I am."

She nodded. "Tojo-san and Gonta-kun told us your name after they brought you to the dorms."

He gestured to her own black collar. "So are you- I mean..."

Akamatsu nodded again, hand tracing her neck. "Yeah. I'm a human lab rat too. I didn't have a talent before I came, but they did _something_ to me and now I can..." Akamatsu trailed off. "Anyway, you must be hungry. Do you want to go to the dining hall? It's lunch now so everyone's there. Oh, or would you rather I bring you some food?"

"I want to try and walk to the dining hall," Saihara said. If he spent too long cooped up in bed, he would get restless. Besides, he did not think he could stand staying in the same room as Akamatsu for much longer. Not that he did not want to spend time with a beautiful girl, but he felt as if he would explode from embarrassment if he stayed with her any longer.

"Tell me if you want to stop, alright?" Akamatsu said. He nodded as she passed him the crutch leaning on the wall beside his bed and helped him up. He was a little wobbly on his feet at first, but after a few steps he managed to find his balance and managed without her help. The bullet wound in his thigh burned, but he was able to grit his teeth through the pain and move, albeit slower than if he was not injured.

Akamatsu lead the way, a few steps ahead of him at all times. She stopped to give commentary to fill the silence between them - _the dorms are where we all stay, boys are on one side and girls on another, we're allowed to roam about during our free time but curfew's at ten so make sure to be back by then_  - and led him to the dining hall.

Akamatsu hopped a few steps in front of him, letting him take a better look at her. She was dressed in a light pink, sleeveless top and a short skirt that was a deeper pink. Her left pinky had a silver ring too, as were the black collar and the matching bracelets on her wrists.

The black collar around her neck and wrists were not an uncommon sight now, but what drew his attention was the deep bruise right above the shock collar. He paused in his step. Since his uncle was a detective, he knew the basic forensic pathology of that pattern of bruising. Maybe it was from the collar, but because it was near her chin it was more likely from...

Akamatsu stopped and turned around. "Oh, you noticed, huh."

"N-noticed?" Saihara stammered.

She nodded, a sad smile on her face. "Yeah, I tried to hang myself a few days ago."

Saihara looked away. He did not want to be right, but apparently he was. "Why?"

She hugged her elbows and looked away. "It hurts. Everything hurts. I keep prying into everyone's thoughts and feeling what they feel and I just- I want it to stop. I want to go home..."

"Akamatsu-san..." Saihara trailed off. He could not find words to comfort her. He had never been good with words and now was no exception. The truth was that they were stuck in this situation with no hope of escaping in the near future, and even if they left they would still be bound to serve the Future Foundation. There was no escape except death.

Akamatsu chuckled softly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be talking about my feelings like that when you've just been beaten up in the name of science."

"It's okay!" Saihara exclaimed loudly, then blushed as he realized that he had accidentally raised his voice. "J-Just because I'm injured doesn't mean you're not hurting too." It was something that his uncle said before, and it seemed appropriate to say now.

Akamatsu paused, then smiled brightly."Thank you, Saihara-kun. You're a very gentle person."

Saihara blushed harder. "A-ah, you're welcome." His heart skipped a beat as Akamatsu grabbed his hand and squeezed it, then led him to the back entrance of the dining hall.

The moment Saihara stepped into the dining hall, the place went dead silent. Everyone stared at Saihara for a long moment, and he reached to pull his hat down before realizing that it was not there. He shifted his weight, fighting the urge to run. He was not used to so many people giving him attention at once, and it made him uncomfortable.

The dining hall exploded. "Yo, you're awake!"

"Hey, it's the new kid!"

"Quit shoving, I wanna take a look!"

"Everyone, calm down!" Akamatsu yelled over the noise. "Stop crowding him, he's injured!" Immediately, everyone backed down and gave Saihara some much needed space.

Saihara cleared his throat nervously. "U-um, I'm Saihara Shuichi. Nice to meet you all. I hope we get along."

A dark skinned girl jumped up in front of him and swayed side to side. "Shuichi! Atua demands we introduce ourselves in order! Ooh, and introduce our talents as well!"

Akamatsu raised her pointer finger. "Then I'll start. You already know, but my name is Akamatsu Kaede. I can read minds... well, sort of."

A green haired boy sitting at the far end of the room raised his hand in greeting. "I'm Amami Rantaro, and my talent is to create portals."

"Too bad you can't create a portal out of here, huh?" The other blonde haired girl sneered.

He laughed good-naturedly. "Hey, I resent that. It's not pleasant having that many limiters on, you know." Indeed, while most people had only one band around each wrist, Amami had multiple of the same band around his fingers, wrist and neck. When his scratched the back of his head, the sleeves of his shirt slid down a little and Saihara saw that the black bands went up all the way to his shoulders. 

"Amami-kun was in the previous batch of students," Akamatsu explained. "He and Shirogane-san both were, so their talents are stronger than ours."

"What happened to the rest?" Saihara asked.

"They died," Amami sighed.

Saihara gulped. The way Amami had said that his friend had died was so casual, he could hardly believe it. Was it the fact that death was so commonplace in this place that he had gotten used to seeing his friends dying?

The blonde haired girl from before cut in. "A-anyway, I'm the genius girl inventor Iruma Miu! I make inanimate objects come to life! Pretty fucking useful, huh?"

"If you used them for anything useful..." Someone mumbled, though Saihara could not pinpoint who said that.

Iruma growled. "Shut the fuck up! I'm super fucking useful, alright?"

A robot stepped forward nervously. "Do I count? Um, I'm K1-B0, but please call me Kiibo! As you can see, I'm a robot."

"So your talent is... being a robot?" Saihara asked, unsure.

Kiibo nodded. "Something like that. We're still working out the specifics." He stepped back and let another boy take his place.

The boy was huge, towering over all the other students easily. "Gonta's name is Gokuhara Gonta! Gonta's talent is talking to animals! Saihara-kun probably don't remember, but Gonta carry Saihara-kun back to room!"

Saihara bowed as much as he could. "Thank you, Gokuhara-kun."

"Please, call Gonta Gonta!"

Akamatsu piped up. "Gonta-kun's being modest. He has two talents: talking to animals and super strength."

Gonta shook his head furiously. "Gonta's strength is not talent! Gonta was born with strength!"

A blue haired girl sighed dreamily. "Gonta-kun's so pure, isn't he? Oh, I'm Shirogane Tsumugi. I can shapeshift into anyone with a 100% accuracy. Look!" The moment she finished her sentence, everyone turned away and covered their eyes and Saihara immediately understood why. Her face looked like it was melting, skin and muscle and bone shifting and reforming. Saihara himself fought the urge to throw up. But her bones and muscle and skin started reforming, and when she was done her face looked like the popular anime character Naruto.

Saihara's mouth dropped open. "Woah..." Her head was an exact replica of Naruto's, down to the hair, eye color and even the scars on his cheek, though it would be more convincing if she could shapeshift her body as well.

Her face deconstructed again, and this time Saihara was prepared to look away. "Well, with the limiter on I can only hold it for a few seconds, and I can only shapeshift my head. But it's still pretty cool!"

As Saihara looked away he realized that there was one person who was not visibly disturbed by Shirogane's shapeshifting. That boy in the mask was the next to speak. "Kukuku, my name is Shinguji Korekiyo. I can commune with spirits of the dead, as long as they are female."

"Any female?" Saihara asked hopefully.

"I need a taglock if I do not know my target personally. Say, a lock of hair or a treasured possession of that person."

Saihara's face fell. "O-oh. I see."

A girl with prominent hair ribbons went into a martial arts stance, hands in front of her and feet braced on the ground. "My name is Chabashira Tenko! I can beat you degenerate males up with my super strength and agility!"

"Chabashira-san, please leave him alone," Akamatsu placated. "He's injured, remember?"

Chabashira relaxed and sniffed condescendingly. "Hmph. Just this once, degenerate!"

Tojo stepped forward and bowed slightly. "We've met before, but just for formality's sake I will introduce myself again. My name is Tojo Kirumi. I can accelerate the healing speed of myself and other people."

Akamatsu piped up. "Tojo-san's like our mother! She cooks and cleans and does everything for us!"

Tojo bowed again. "I am honored that you think so highly of me, Akamatsu-san." 

Next was a girl with twin pigtails that went down to her ankles. "...Harukawa Maki. Chabashira and I have the exact same type of talent, strength and agility. We use them for differently though."

"How differently?" Saihara asked.

"I kill. Chabashira doesn't."

"O-oh." That was not an answer Saihara was expecting. 

A boy that barely went up to Saihara's chest was next. If not for the aura the boy gave off, Saihara would have written him off as an elementary or middle school student. "You can call me Hoshi Ryoma, but I'm nothing more than an empty shell. My 'talent', if you can call it that, is to kill anyone I touch instantly." When he saw Saihara visibly recoil, he reassured, "Oh don't worry, I have limiters on so if you touch me now you'll just get a little dizzy."

"I'm Momota Kaito, Luminary of the Stars!" The boy with one sleeve out of his arm said. "My talent is my impenetrable skin!"

"Yeah, 'cause you're thick skinned," Harukawa muttered.

Momota recoiled in shock. "Harumaki, you wound me!"

She rolled her eyes. "No one can wound you, dumbass. That's the point." But Saihara saw the way she threaded her fingers through his right after her words, and he immediately understood. If he was not mistaken, Momota and Harukawa were in a romantic relationship.

A tiny girl wearing a witch's hat spoke up. "Nyeh, I'm Yumeno Himiko. I... create illusions and stuff."

Chabashira squealed in delight. "Kya! Yumeno-san's talent is so cool!"

Yumeno smiled slightly, apparently flattered by Chabashira's praise. "I would do it now... but I'm tired. I need to restore my mana." 

"Himiko should rest! She just came out of testing, after all!" The dark skinned girl said. "I'm Yonaga Angie! Atua sends me glimpses of the future."

"There is a pretty huge margin of error, though..." Momota mumbled.

Immediately, Angie's expression darkened. "Atua tells you to shut up or your skin will be flayed in the next round of testing," she warned.

"Not as if they're not trying," he muttered under his breath. 

"Well, that's everyone!" Akamatsu said. "Wait, we don't know your talent, Saihara-kun!"

Saihara shrunk back a little. "O-oh. I can move objects with my mind... sort of? I'm still kinda bad at it though."

"Huh, that's pretty cool," Momota said. "Don't worry about not being good with it, everyone here had to work for it."

"Except me, because I'm a fucking genius!"

"Iruma-san, shut up," Amami warned. Iruma shrunk back under his glare and sat down at her place.

Saihara looked around the room, counting the number of people. Akamatsu said that everyone would be in the dining hall, but no matter how much he counted it seemed as if he was missing one person. "Is there a person missing? Kirigiri-san said there were fifteen students and a robot, but there are only fourteen students and a robot..."

"Hey, I'm a student too! That's robophobic!" Kiibo yelled.

Saihara laughed nervously. "S-Sorry, Kiibo-kun."

"Ouma's in solitary again," Hoshi said.

"Ouma... -kun? -san? Solitary?"

"Ouma Kokichi-kun," Tojo said. "He's in solitary confinement as punishment."

Momota rolled his eyes. "What did he do this time?"

"Replaced all of Ando's pens with crayons." "Blew up the Shrine of Judgement with endless amounts of confetti." "Flooded his talent lab with tomato soup."

The three people who talked at once turned to face each other. Harukawa spoke first. "He's the one who blew up the Shrine of Judgement?"

Iruma's eye twitched. "That little twink's the reason I had to clean up all the tomato soup in the basement?"

Amami chuckled. "Hey, that's actually pretty good. He got one of the higher ups this time."

"Um, what's his talent?" Saihara asked carefully. Ultimate or not, those talents must have taken a lot of planning to do, especially since the targets were high ranking Ultimates. He felt a modicum of respect for this Ouma person's skills and the courage he had to pull all that off before being caught.

"Nobody knows," Yumeno said slowly.

"That's not true. His team knows," Akamatsu said.

Momota groaned. "Aww, come on guys!"

Amami chuckled. "Sorry. Not telling."

Iruma cowered timidly. "W-well, Ouma may be annoying sometimes, but he'll kill me if I tell. I- I can't die here!"

Gonta nodded seriously. "Ouma-kun asked Gonta to keep secret, so Gonta not tell anyone but teammates!"

Angie hummed thoughtfully. "Atua says his talent is something different! Like, hmm, being in three different places at once!"

"I think it's something degenerate and perverse, that's why he has to hide it," Chabashira sneered.

"I still think it's related to luck," Momota proposed. "Have you seen his talent lab? It's filled with dice motifs. Plus he's being mentored by Komaeda."

"Speaking of mentors, I need to meet Maizono-san soon," Akamatsu said. "Sorry, Saihara-kun, but I'll have to leave you here for a while."

"That's fine, Akamatsu. I'll take him around," Momota volunteered. "I've got nothing else to do today anyway." He gave her a thumbs up after that, so Akamatsu nodded hesitantly.

"Munakata-san's not around again?" Shirogane asked.

Momota shook his head. "He'll be overseas for the next two weeks."

"Izayoi-san's not here either, so let me join you too," Amami said. "If you don't mind, Saihara-kun."

"N-no, of course not," Saihara denied vehemently. He was just glad that the people here seemed nice and were willing to help him. If anything, it would help him to survive living in the facility for god knows how long.

"Welp, the rest of us gotta meet with our mentors!" Angie exclaimed. "Bye-onara!" Everyone cleared their plates and said their goodbyes, leaving Momota, Amami and Saihara alone in the dining hall. Before Harukawa left, she squeezed Momota's hand and whispered something into his ear, and he nodded seriously. She spared him a lingering glance before she left.

When everyone left, Saihara blurted out, "I have so many questions," Meeting fourteen other people and being overwhelmed with so much information suddenly made him feel slightly dizzy from information overload.

Momota laughed heartily. "That's alright. We'll help you out, alright?" Amami nodded in response to Momota's statement.

Saihara smiled. The other students here seemed rather nice and friendly. Maybe life in the facility would not be that bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I update rotting corpses (or any related fics), I'm probably taking a break from studying. If I update poem weaver, I'm probably drunk or high. If I update this fic, I'm studying for my exams and suddenly got inspired by the weird shit I study.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **If you're under the legal age of consent in your resident country or the kind of person who's easily triggered by stuff (death, gore, violence, rape/noncon, suicide, abuse, self harm, mental illness, blahblahblahthislistisnonexhaustive), close this fic. _Do not come back._**
> 
>  
> 
> This was supposed to be combined with the previous chapter anyway so here, have a double update.

Amami had taken to make portals every few steps, allowing Saihara to walk less and keep up with the other two boys at the same time. He was infinitely thankful because there were a lot of stairs and Saihara was not sure he could handle walking up and down stairs. The two boys showed him the important parts of the facility; the dorms, dining hall, swimming pool, gaming room and attached AV room and the library. They stopped at the library when they realized Saihara was having trouble keeping up and started chatting a little. 

"So, you said you have a few questions?" Amami asked.

Saihara nodded. "Yeah. First of all, what is this place?"

"This is the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles," Amami said. "The Ultimate Initiative 'gifted' us with our talents, you see, and we're kinda like prisoners here. Thus, gifted juveniles."

Momota nodded in agreement. "The Ultimate Initiative started The Gofer Project to try and cultivate talent in normal humans a long time ago. They take a bunch of kids and stick 'em in here to experiment on them. We just happened to be the unlucky ones."

So the Ultimate Initiative had been doing this for a long time, as evidenced by Amami being one of the people in the previous batches. Saihara vaguely wondered how many people had been experimented on. If there were fifteen or sixteen people per batch, that would mean a minimum of thirty people being here. They called this The Gofer Project, so that must be the official name of everything that was happening in the Academy.

"You mentioned something about mentors," Saihara brought up. "What are they?"

"We're all personally mentored by an Ultimate. The Ultimate in question chooses us after the initial testing," Amami explained. "That Ultimate is in charge of developing our talents. I'm mentored by Izayoi Sonosuke, the Ultimate Blacksmith."

"Mine's Munakata Kyosuke! Oh, and they come by every Sunday. Well, most Sundays at least," Momota scratched the back of his head. "We meet them for about an hour or two, depending on how long they want to meet us. We can do whatever we want after that."

"I see. Then what do you do from Monday to Saturday?" Saihara asked.

"We have a timetable. Here, let me show you the bulletin board. It's on the second floor, by the way. It tells you what your classes are." Amami opened a portal that showed the bulletin board in clear view.

Monday - Saturday

0800: Breakfast  
0900: Japanese   
1000: English   
1100: Math   
1200: Lunch  
1300: Physical/Magical/Others  
1500: Biology/Chemistry/Physics/Others  
1700: Cleaning  
1800: Dinner  
1900: Talent/Experiment  
2200: Curfew

Sunday

0800: Breakfast  
1200: Lunch  
1300: Mentor meeting  
1800: Dinner  
2200: Curfew

"So basically before lunch we just study normal things. After lunch we focus on our talents and stuff. We're separated into groups for all our classes as well," Momota explained. "You're meant to practice your talent in your talent lab after dinner, but sometimes people get called for experiments. They'll tell you if you got chosen at dinner."

Amami waved his hand, closing the first portal and opening another one. "Here's the new class list. They added your name and shuffled some people around."

Japanese I

Chabashira Tenko  
Iruma Miu  
Gokuhara Gonta  
Yonaga Angie  
K1-B0

Japanese II

Akamatsu Kaede  
Harukawa Maki  
Shirogane Tsumugi  
Yumeno Himiko  
Hoshi Ryoma

Japanese III

Amami Rantaro  
Saihara Shuichi  
Shinguji Korekiyo  
Ouma Kokichi  
Tojo Kirumi  
Momota Kaito

 

English I

Chabashira Tenko  
Iruma Miu  
Gokuhara Gonta  
K1-B0

English II

Akamatsu Kaede  
Saihara Shuichi  
Harukawa Maki  
Shirogane Tsumugi  
Yumeno Himiko  
Hoshi Ryoma

English III

Amami Rantaro  
Shinguji Korekiyo  
Ouma Kokichi  
Tojo Kirumi  
Momota Kaito  
Yonaga Angie

 

Math I

Akamatsu Kaede  
Saihara Shuichi  
Harukawa Maki  
K1-B0

Math II

Amami Rantaro  
Chabashira Tenko  
Shinguji Korekiyo  
Shirogane Tsumugi  
Yumeno Himiko  
Gokuhara Gonta  
Tojo Kirumi  
Hoshi Ryoma  
Yonaga Angie

Math III

Iruma Miu  
Ouma Kokichi  
Momota Kaito

 

Physical

Harukawa Maki  
Chabashira Tenko  
Gokuhara Gonta  
Hoshi Ryoma  
Momota Kaito

Magical

Akamatsu Kaede  
Amami Rantaro  
Saihara Shuichi  
Iruma Miu  
Shinguji Korekiyo  
Shirogane Tsumugi  
Yumeno Himiko  
Ouma Kokichi  
Tojo Kirumi  
Yonaga Angie

Others

K1-B0

 

Biology

Saihara Shuichi  
Chabashira Tenko  
Gokuhara Gonta  
Shirogane Tsumugi  
Hoshi Ryoma

Chemistry

Iruma Miu  
Harukawa Maki  
Tojo Kirumi  
K1-B0

Physics

Akamatsu Kaede  
Amami Rantaro  
Yumeno Himiko  
Shinguji Korekiyo

Others

Ouma Kokichi  
Momota Kaito

 

Momota groaned. "Ugh, you're kidding. I'm still stuck with Ouma for all my classes?"

Amami laughed. "Hey, at least you're in physical and he's in magical. Besides, if you don't like him that much, you could always fail a class and drop one level."

Momota punched his fists together and yelled. "No way! I, Momota Kaito, will never fail on purpose to run away from my problems!"

"So the classes are divided into grades?" Saihara asked.

"In a sense," Amami said. "Higher grades means a more advanced curriculum."

Saihara scanned the list and found his name in Japanese III, English II and Math I. He flushed, math had never been his strong suit. He was also placed in biology class and his talent class was filed under 'magical'. As he skimmed through the list, he realized something. Two people were always in the highest grade available: Ouma Kokichi and Momota Kaito. Saihara's eyes widened. "Wow, Momota-kun. You're in the most advanced class for every single subject."

Momota scratched the back of his head. "Eh, it's nothing. I want to be an astronaut when I get out of here, so I gotta put in effort into my studies."

"Momota-kun, why aren't you studying science?" Saihara asked.

"Oh, you mean why I'm placed under 'others'? Well... Ouma and I finished the curriculum for all three sciences, so we gotta do our own thing."

"A-all of them?" Saihara stammered.

"Yeah," Momota grimaced. "Biology was the worst, I tell you, the _worst_. I'm sorry you got stuck with it, Saihara."

"I-it's okay, I like biology." For some reason, blood and gore fascinated rather than disgusted him, but most people found that odd so he kept that little tidbit to himself. "How long have you been here, Momota-kun?" 

"Uh, I don't know. Three months? Ouma's been here for six, I think."

If Momota had said that he had been in the facility for an entire year, Saihara would have understood. But he had apparently been trapped here for barely three months, and he had climbed to the top of the class and finished three entire subjects within that period of time. Saihara felt a newfound sense of respect for Momota and Ouma.

"If you manage to get full marks in one science, you get moved to another science of your choice," Amami explained. "For example, Iruma-san aced physics and chose chemistry to study next. If you finish all of them, you end up with free time like Momota-kun and Ouma-kun."

"It's not really free time. We gotta hone our talents unless we wanna get zapped," Momota said, tapping the collar around his neck.

"That's still really amazing, Momota-kun," Saihara complimented. He doubted he would be able to achieve that in three years.

"Better grades also means more concessions. The Handlers are more inclined to be lenient to you if you show them that you're useful. I really think that's the only reason Ouma-kun's not dead by now," Amami admitted. "Oh, good behavior counts as well. As long as you keep your head down and follow orders, you'll be fine. Otherwise, you'll end up like me." He pulled up his sleeves, showing off the multiple black bands around his arms. Just when Saihara thought he saw all the bands the other boy had, Amami leaned down to roll up his pants. There were bands there too, up to half his shin.

"These are... limiters?"

"Yeah," Amami nodded. "As the name implies, they limit your abilities. If I were at full strength, I could very easily create a portal home but... well."

"Does it hurt?" Momota asked, staring openly at the black bands that covered Amami's limbs. "I mean, I got limiters too but not as many as you, man."

Amami shrugged nonchalantly. "You get used to it after a while. It's not that bad, really. It does make showering a pain, though."

"Are those silver rings limiters as well?" Saihara asked.

"No, they're proof of the blood pact that binds us to this place. They cut off your pinky finger and seal it back with this ring. You can't remove the ring, ever. Not even after graduation. We're basically tied to the Ultimate Initiative's orders for the rest of our lives."

That was right. Graduation. Kirigiri had mentioned that it was a way to get out, but she had not mentioned how to get out. Maybe either of them knew the answer. "How do you graduate?" he asked. Momota shrugged and turned to Amami for an answer.

"Right, I never told you, did I?" Amami sighed and crossed his hands in front of him, leaning back into his chair. "We have to clear out one of the nests where Despair spawns in one sitting. Most people in my previous class passed away from the experiments, and the remaining five died trying to graduate. Out of the 52nd batch, only Shirogane and I survived."

Saihara's blood ran cold when he heard the number '52'. He had expected maybe two or three batches before this, but not that many. That meant there were hundreds of people who had died during the course of The Gofer Project, and Amami had personally experienced fourteen of them.

Momota's voice softened. "Dude, I'm sorry man. I didn't think..."

"It's fine," Amami said, raising his hands in front of him. "That was a year ago anyway."

"By the way, you mentioned a... talent lab?" Saihara asked to change the subject. "What's that."

Amami's eyes lit up. "Right! I'll show you mine first. You can't get in through the door, I've got to make you a portal. Here." He waved his hand and showed the other two the inside of his talent lab. Saihara's eyes widened at how complex the interior was; moving walls and glass panels and that shifted every few seconds or so.

"W-wow, what's all of this?" Saihara asked, eyes still glued to the display.

"Puzzles, like the game Portal. Pretty cool, huh? I spend a lot of time inside because it's the only place my limiters come off; because the room itself is programmed to not allow me out without my limiters. So if you need to find me, just find Iruma-san, Gonta-kun or Ouma-kun. They know how to contact me." Amami grimaced a little. "Actually, can we step inside for a moment? The limiters are killing me."

Since Saihara was rested enough, he managed to get into the portal without much difficulty. Momota and Amami followed right behind. The moment the portal shut, all the black bands around Amami's limbs fell off and revealed his bare skin. Saihara stifled a gasp at the sight. Amami's arms looked as if they were covered in a combination of first degree burns and deep bruises, and not a single patch of his skin had been left untouched.

"That... looks horrible," Momota agreed.

Amami rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It looks worse than it feels, really."

"Shit man, I always thought you were unsociable but it was actually... holy shit. If I were you, I'd never leave my talent lab." Momota swallowed. "I'm sorry, Amami. I misjudged you."

"Hey, it's alright," Amami reassured. "I know I don't give off a good first impression with the hair, piercings and fashion sense. But I promise, I'm not a bad guy."

"How do the limiters work? Why do they hurt you so much?" Saihara asked quietly.

"They actually don't limit you beyond a certain level, so most people only have two; one on each wrist," Amami explained. "Mine are different. Momota-kun, roll up your sleeves." Momota complied and revealed his own limiters. Amami picked up his limiters and compared them to Momota's. "Most of mine aren't made of the same material as yours. It's soft and pliable, unlike the collar and the bracelets." Sure enough, the black bands that were on the ground looked closer to cloth ribbons than metal.

"So... what do they do?" Momota asked, rolling down his sleeves.

"They're... hmm, discouragers?" Amami laughed. "I don't know what to call them. Anyway, everytime I use my talent outside of training or being ordered to by a Handler, I get burned and pinched by these things."

Saihara felt a horrible wave of guilt rush over him. Amami knew that he would get hurt making portals, but he had been creating portals just to help Saihara get around better. Suddenly, the bullet wounds and broken arm did not seem that bad. "I'm sorry, Amami-kun," Saihara mumbled. "Because of me, you got hurt." He felt a lump rise in his throat, but he forced himself to swallow it.

"I told you, it's fine," Amami reassured again. "I chose to do this." The boys got themselves settled into Amami's talent lab, pulling out some chairs to sit. "I keep these here for my team," Amami explained. 

"You and your team are pretty close, huh? I wish my team was as tight as yours. My team is more like two groups of two," Momota lamented.

"Teams?" Saihara asked.

"Oh, right. We're a class of sixteen, right? So we're going to be split into four groups of four. My team consists of myself, Harumaki, Hoshi and Tojo. I serve as defense, Harumaki and Hoshi kill whatever targets we have, Tojo acts as backup and healing."

"Mine is myself, Ouma-kun, Iruma-san and Gonta-kun. Unlike Momota-kun's group, we specialize in long-range attacks with Gonta-kun to cover us physically."

"Mm, so Ouma's talent is long ranged?" Momota guessed.

Amami laughed nervously. "Oops, looks like I said too much."

"What about the rest?" Saihara asked.

"Their teams haven't been decided yet, but I'm pretty sure Shirogane, Chabashira and Yumeno are gonna be in the same team," Momota said.

Amami nodded in agreement. "Makes sense. Shirogane-san and Yumeno-san have illusion and infiltration skills, and Chabashira probably won't leave Yumeno's side."

Momota continued. "Angie and Shinguji will probably be put together because they're non-combatants and their talents are mostly used to gather information. I think you'll be put with them, Saihara, because your talent can be used to defend them and Shirogane's group already has a defender."

"So that leaves Akamatsu-san and Kiibo-kun," Saihara said.

Momota hummed thoughtfully. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that Akamatsu will be put with Shirogane and Kiibo will be put with Angie."

Amami nodded again. "Yeah, that makes sense too. Akamatsu-san can read minds so she can extract information while Yumeno-san and Shirogane-san work. Kiibo can possess machinery so he can hack computers and get intelligence from there, so that counts as him being a non-combatant."

"O-oh, I see," Saihara tripped over his words.

"Are you... disappointed?" Amami asked, interested.

"Ooh, taken a liking to Akamatsu, eh?" Momota elbowed Saihara playfully (in his good arm, of course).

Saihara recoiled. "W-what, no! I just think she's nice, and she's... pretty..." He trailed off. He just could not explain the emotional connection he had with Akamatsu. She was different from everyone else just by nature of being her. He was definitely interested in her, but she was obviously out of his league.

Amami laughed. "Haha, it's alright. She does have that kind of effect on people. Just... be careful, alright? She can read minds, after all."

Momota cut in. "Hey, I wanna show Saihara my lab!"

"Alright, hold on," Amami said, waving his hand to create another portal. This time, it led to what looked like a black hole. "Viewing only portal, so I don't have to put on my restraints."

"What's... this?" Saihara wondered.

"It's meant to stimulate the effects of being in space. My talent allows me to survive in space because of my, ugh, my thick skin," Momota grimaced as he said, glaring at Amami when he snickered. "As long as I have a source of oxygen, I don't need an astronaut suit to go up into space."

"That's so cool!" Saihara exclaimed.

Even Amami looked surprised. "Woah, I didn't know that."

Momota scratched the back of his neck. "I also do some engineering. It's not as advanced as Iruma's stuff, but it's still something. It's more of a hobby than a talent, really."

"Um, what about my talent lab?" Saihara asked hesitantly.

"There's only one lab left unoccupied, so I think it's that one," Amami said, changing the viewing portal to view Saihara's lab.

"This is... my lab?" It looked more like a cottage house than a place to hone his talent, with bookshelves upon bookshelves and a fireplace at the end. There were some cozy chairs near the fireplace, but that was it. All there was in the talent lab were books and some bottles.

"I've got no idea what this is supposed to be," Amami admitted.

Momota squinted at the shelves. "Hey, those bottles are poison," he said as he rolled his eyes. "What do they expect you to do, levitate poison into someone's mouth?"

"There are a lot of books here," Amami commented. "I don't get it. What's all this gotta do with psychokinesis?"

"I'll tell you myself." A familiar woman came into view, a woman Saihara was not expecting to see that soon.

"K-Kirigiri-san?!" Saihara exclaimed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this chapter so much. It's just a bunch of worldbuilding and nothing else. Oh well, hope this answers all your questions about the world of this fic. The actual story starts in the next chapter.
> 
> _It is 5.30 am. My mother comes in. "Go and sleep," she whines, but I shake my head. Fanfiction compels. Fanfiction always wins._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **If you're under the legal age of consent in your resident country or the kind of person who's easily triggered by stuff (death, gore, violence, rape/noncon, suicide, abuse, self harm, mental illness, blahblahblahthislistisnonexhaustive), close this fic. _Do not come back._**  
> 
> I changed the name of the fic because reversible campaign is too happy a song to name this fic after. I also changed the rating from mature to explicit. Don't sue me, alright?! I just don't want to get sued for underage sexual exploitation or whatfuckingever the internet is up to nowadays. I'm looking at you, _tumblr_.
> 
> There won't be any explicit sex scenes even though it's rated explicit because I'm not comfortable writing them. So if you're looking for porn to have a date with rosie palms, I recommend a certain 53-chaptered masterpiece that is on this very archive, filed under this piece of shit of a fandom.

"Kirigiri-san?!" Saihara exclaimed.

Her lips quirked up. "I see you're settling in well."

Amami got up from his chair and bowed deeply. "Kirigiri-san, I'm so sorry. I didn't know you'd be here to meet Saihara-kun. Please don't blame Saihara-kun, he didn't know. If you need to punish anyone, please punish me."

Momota stood up suddenly, knocking his chair over. He stepped between Amami and the portal. "Bullshit, Amami! I'm the one who volunteered to take Saihara around!"

"No one is getting punished." As soon as Kirigiri said that, everyone heaved a sigh of relief. "Amami-kun, I give you authorization to use your talent without putting on those things for the next five seconds. Saihara-kun, step through the portal. I want to talk to you."

Amami looked at Saihara worriedly but complied while Momota helped Saihara through the portal. He turned back and saw Momota and Amami waving at him. Since one of Saihara's hands was in a sling and the other was holding his crutch, he could not wave back, so he simply smiled at them as the portal closed. Once it was fully closed, he turned back to face Kirigiri, who was smiling slightly. "It's good that you're making friends," she said.

"T-thank you?" Saihara stammered, unsure of how to react. For some reason, she seemed different from the Kirigiri he had first met in the testing area. Somehow, she seemed softer and more approachable now.

"Sit down," she said as she gestured to the chair in front of her. There was a metal canister on the table. "I brought some soup for you. I'm terrible at cooking, so my fiancé made it."

"Fiancé?"

"Someone I met in Hope's Peak. He was in the same class as me."

So her fiancé was another Ultimate. It made sense that they would chose each other as partners since they were on another level compared to normal humans. It could even be argued that Ultimates were a different species altogether, evolved from humans to replace them someday. 

"Thanks for the meal," Saihara said as he opened the canister with his good hand and took a sip. His eyes widened in surprise; the soup was good. It tasted vaguely like potatoes and carrots and... something? Whatever it was that was inside, it made Saihara want more. Only after taking the first sip did he realize how hungry he was. He did not get food back in the dining hall, and hobbling around the school had made him ravenous. He downed the entire canister of soup within a minute, letting the soup warm his body.

Kirigiri chuckled softly. "He's a good cook, isn't he? I sometimes think his title should have been the Ultimate Cook."

"What's his title?" Saihara asked curiously.

"Officially, the Ultimate Lucky Student. Unofficially, the Ultimate Hope."

Luck related talents were actually not at all uncommon, so people who had the talent of 'luck' needed to be extremely proficient or strong at their talent in order to be called an Ultimate. But Saihara had never heard of a talent called 'hope'. Perhaps the Ultimate Initiative wanted to keep Kirigiri's fiancé's true talent a secret for their own purposes, or maybe his luck transcended all expectations and could only be called by another name. Either way, Saihara could not be sure.

"How have you been so far?" Kirigiri asked.

Scared. Confused. A myriad of adjectives entered Saihara's mind, but none of them seemed appropriate to say to Kirigiri. So, he decided to talk about what had happened earlier in the day. "I met the other students. They're nice. Momota-kun and Amami-kun showed me around and explained some things to me."

"Do you have any other questions?" Kirigiri asked.

"Is my uncle doing well?" Saihara blurted out.

Kirigiri sighed. "Your uncle is... persistent. He's dedicated all his time to tracking you down now that he's realized the police won't help him."

"Please don't hurt him," he pleaded, although he did not expect Kirigiri to listen to him. If his uncle was tracking him down, that meant that the Future Foundation would have to deal with him to keep him off their tails. Saihara sent a silent prayer to whatever gods existed. He just wanted his uncle, his last living relative, to be safe.

"I won't," Kirigiri reassured, but Saihara noted how she said 'I' instead of 'we'. Of couse, she could not promise that the Future Foundation would not harm Saihara's uncle. Despite being a leader of the Future Foundation, she probably had limits to what she could do. 

Kirigiri slid a black-and-white pad across the table. Saihara held it in his hand and examined it. "Keep this with you at all times. Do not lose it. This electronic handbook consists of the rules of the Academy and a map for your reference. Read them." Saihara fired up the electronic handbook and swiftly tapped the rules tab, skimming through it as quickly as he could.

  * **#1:**  Students are required to cohabitate at the Ultimate Academy for the remainder of the unforeseeable future.
  * **#2:**  Students are required to follow all instructions given to them by a Handler.
  * **#3:** Students are not allowed to tamper with the restraining collar and bracelets, or other restraining equipment.
  * **#4:**  Students are not allowed to enter areas for official personnel unless given prior authorization.
  * **#5:**  Students are required to follow the designated schedule unless physically incapacitated or as instructed by a Handler.
  * **#6:**  All acts of violence, unless directly supervised by a Handler, are strictly prohibited.
  * **#7:**  All acts of vandalism and property damage are strictly prohibited.
  * **#8:**  Students are required to wear the designated school uniform while attending classes. 
  * **#9:** Students are required to wear the designated sports attire while practicing their respective talents.
  * **#10:**  "Nighttime" is officially designated as the hours between 2300 and 0800. During this time, only students with prior authorization are allowed to leave their rooms. All other students are strictly prohibited from leaving their rooms. 
  * **#11:**  Students who violate these rules will be punished according to the severity of their crimes.
  * **#12:**  The headmaster may add additional regulations to this list at any time.



Logically, Saihara should have had many questions on his mind. But the only thing that came out of his mouth was, "We have a headmaster?"

Kirigiri nodded. "Officially, the headmaster is Tengan Kazuo, the head of the Future Foundation. But most of the time Munakata Kyosuke, head of the second division, oversees the operations of this Academy." If Saihara was not mistaken, Munakata was the name of Momota's mentor. Of course Momota would have a mentor that high ranking; he was the top of the class after all.

"Am I going to start training now?" Saihara asked, secretly praying that he would not have to. He wanted some down time before he did anything, courtesy of the bullet wounds and broken arm.

"No, however there is one more thing I need to do." In response, Kirigiri pulled out a familiar silver ring, causing Saihara to gasp. "Izayoi-san made this enchanted ring for us. It seems you already know its purpose."

Saihara swallowed. "You're- you're going to cut off my pinky finger, right?"

Kirigiri shook her head. "No. I need _you_ to cut off your own finger and hand it to me on your own will."

"W-what?"

"I'm sorry to ask this of you, Saihara-kun. But this is the only way to..." Kirigiri trailed off, looking off to the side.

On one hand, Saihara could refuse to take the blood oath, but she would probably kill him easily. On another hand, if he did take the blood oath, he'd practically be a slave to her desires. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. But at the same time, he wanted to live. Even if it meant binding himself to someone else for the rest of his life, he would be able to survive this ordeal and hopefully get out one day. If he was dead, he would not even be able to do that. He looked at Kirigiri in the eyes and nodded.

She slid a piece of paper across the table. "Once you cut off your finger, read off the script. I will do the rest." She took out a knife adorned with magical runes on its hilt and walked to the fireplace, heating up the blade of the knife. 

First, Saihara took his injured hand out of its sling, then placed it palm side down on the table. His good hand took the ritual knife from Kirigiri, careful not to touch the heated blade. It hovered over his left hand, shaking furiously. He squeezed his eyes shut and stabbed down as hard as he could, letting out a pained cry as the knife hit his finger.

"Good. Now hand it to me."

Saihara opened one eye hesitantly. He had been successful, his finger was cut cleanly at the joint and detached from his hand. Blood pooled on the table, spreading further by the second. He resisted the urge to throw up as he put the knife down and picked up his severed finger.

"Read off the script," she commanded.

"M-My true name is Saihara Shuichi. I offer you, you whose true name is Kirigiri Kyoko, my undying loyalty. I offer to bind myself to your service for as long as I live. I offer you a piece of myself as proof." He choked back a sob as he read the next sentence. "I- I offer this in my own free will."

"My true name is Kirigiri Kyoko. I accept your offer, you whose true name is Saihara Shuichi." 

Then she took Saihara's severed finger and swallowed it.

Saihara watched in horror as Kirigiri held a gloved hand over her mouth and tried not to gag. She heaved once, twice, but forced herself to keep the finger down. Eventually, she stopped heaving and composed herself. "Put on the ring," she commanded.

Saihara wanted to tell her that he did not have a finger to put the ring on, but he did so anyway. To his amazement, bone and flesh started regenerating as soon as the ring touch his stump, and his skin actually melded with the ring.

She took his hand to inspect the new finger and nodded to herself. "The contract is sealed. We're done for today." Kirigiri stood up from her seat, noticeably paler than before. "You're excused from classes for the next week to get settled in. I'll come by next Sunday to check on you."

"Y-yes, Kirigiri-san. Thank you," Saihara said as he stood up and bowed. He held the bow until Kirigiri left the room, then let himself slump onto his seat and let his tears flow freely.

He had just sold his free will for good. There was no turning back.

* * *

Eventually, Saihara found the will and energy to walk out of his talent lab. He dried his tears and composed himself, straightening his clothes and making sure that he was presentable. To his surprise, Akamatsu was waiting for him.

"Saihara-kun!" Akamatsu greeted as she stood from the ground. "Are you alright?"

"Were you waiting here the entire time?" Saihara asked.

Akamatsu shook her head. "I just got here. Momota-kun told me you would be here, so I came to help you down."

"Down?"

"Your lab is on the fourth floor, and I thought you'd have trouble going down stairs with your injuries..." Akamatsu trailed off. Saihara did not even know that his talent lab was that high up since he had gotten there by Amami's portals, but he knew that he would probably take a very long time to get down the stairs.

Saihara smiled softly. "Thank you, Akamatsu-san. I'm sorry for troubling you."

"O-oh, it's alright," Akamatsu faltered. "Amami-kun wanted to help you, but he overused his talent and passed out."

"Is he alright?" Saihara asked, concerned. He felt even more guilty now because Amami had been constantly using his talent to help Saihara get around earlier in the day. Had he known this would be the consequence, he would have never let Amami use his talent at all.

Akamatsu nodded. "It's not overuse of his talent that causes him to pass out, it's the restraints. If they press too hard on his neck, he can't breathe and he loses consciousness from lack of oxygen. Don't worry too much, Momota-kun managed to get Tojo-san to him in time."

"I want to see Amami-kun," Saihara told her. She nodded and led him to the first flight of stairs, supporting his weight whenever his bad leg had to take a step down. He was hypersensitive to the way Akamatsu's arm gripped his tightly, but he managed to suppress his rapidly beating heart and make it down after a few minutes.

By the time he finished going down the second flight of stairs, he had still not managed to get the thought of Akamatsu being in such close quarters with him. The way she held his arm to support him, it made his upper arm brush against her chest more than a few times. From the light touches, he could tell they were softer than he expected. He gave in to his urge and looked down. They were huge.

"You're staring," Akamatsu said, frowning.

Saihara blushed and forced himself to look away. "S-sorry."

"It's fine, Saihara-kun." Belatedly, Saihara realized she was blushing as well. "If it's you, I don't mind." That statement made Saihara flush all the way to his ears, especially since he realized Akamatsu was still pressing the side of her breast into his arm to support him. By the time they got to the first floor, they were both equally red. They broke contact at the same time, stammering out excuses as they did so.

"I need to go-"

"It's fine, I know the way back-"

Akamatsu practically ran off, leaving Saihara alone. He took a moment to compose himself, slapping his cheeks to try and erase the sight and feel of Akamatsu's breasts on his arm but failing miserably. He opted to hobble over to the dorms slowly, hoping that going about his day normally would erase the thought of what had happened.

It dawned upon Saihara that he did not know which room was Amami's, but he soon realized that the rooms were marked with pixelated sprites of themselves. As Saihara approached Amami's room (which was coincidentally right beside his), he heard voices coming from inside.

"I told you, I'm fine."

"Gonta think Amami-kun should stay in bed!"

"Yeah, you rotten avocado. You knew this would happen, and yet you still overused your talent. What the fuck were you thinking?"

"I... wasn't?"

"Damn right you weren't, you overgrown grass-head!"

"Amami-kun!" Saihara wobbled in, causing everyone to turn their heads towards him. He flushed, he was still not used to being in the center of attention. Amami was sitting up in bed, flanked by Iruma and Gonta on either side. "Are you alright? I heard you passed out."

"Saihara-kun," Amami greeted. "I'm fine now, really. Thanks for your concern."

"The fuck you're fine!" Iruma yelled. "Tojo already said she'll bring you dinner later. So stay in bed, or I'll fucking tie you to it and drip wax all over you!"

"I'm fine," Amami insisted. "I've been through much worse."

Saihara cleared his throat to get their attention. "Amami-kun, you overused your talent because of me, right? I feel really guilty about it." Suddenly every single thing that had happened over the past few days hit him, and he could not control the tears that fell from his eyes. Being kidnapped and experimented on, treated as less than human, surrendering his free will to someone else and knowing that his uncle would likely be hunted down for trying to save him. "I- I don't want to see anyone hurt because of me. Please."

For a moment, everyone did not move. Saihara stood leaning against the door frame, crying uncontrollably as Amami, Iruma and Gonta looked on. Eventually, Amami broke the silence. "Okay, I promise I won't get out of bed for today. Alright?" he said gently. Saihara nodded, drying his tears with the sleeve of his shirt.

"I- I'm sorry I started crying. I don't know what came over me."

"Come here," Amami said as he patted the space on the bed beside him. Saihara almost collapsed on the bed and into Amami's arms. He heard the door shut behind them. Amami's hands ran through his hair, calming Saihara a little. "It's alright to feel scared and hurt. It's not healthy to hold back your emotions. So feel free to let go, alright?"

So Saihara did. It started off with small, choking sobs, then gradually turned into Saihara practically screaming into Amami's chest like a wounded animal. Amami simply responded by murmuring reassurances in his ear while stroking his head, telling Saihara that everything would be alright over and over again.

When Saihara finally calmed down, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He knew he looked like a mess, with tears and snot all over his face. "I'm sorry for being such a burden. I came to check up on you, but I ended up relying on you instead."

Amami laughed. "Don't be silly. As everyone's big brother, I'm inclined to take care of all our classmates. I may not look like it, but I'm already twenty one." Before Saihara could respond, someone knocked on the door. "Come in."

Tojo stepped in. "Amami-kun, I brought your dinner." She handed the plate of food to Amami, a simple meal of fried rice and eggs. "Ah, Saihara-kun. Would you like to join us for dinner? Or would you rather I bring food to your room?"

Saihara thought of the events earlier in the day and fought back the urge to throw up. "I don't think I'm very hungry," he told her honestly.

Her eyes settled on the silver ring that now adorned his pinky finger. "I understand. I'll make something light for you and bring it to you anyway. Try and eat a little bit."

"Thank you, Tojo-san," Saihara said sincerely. He took Tojo's offered hand and pulled himself up onto his feet. "Thank you, Amami-kun."

"It's fine. Feel free to approach me if you need anything, alright?" Amami offered. Saihara nodded and exited the room with Tojo, who helped him get back to his own room.

"You should be on strict bed rest too," Tojo chided softly. "I'll bring food to you over the course of the next week." Saihara nodded in agreement, ashamed that he had been walking around school for the entire day despite having to stay in bed. He let Tojo change his bandages and waved as she exited his room, closing the door behind him.

He stared at the ceiling and let exhaustion claim him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more I write this the more I start to hate it. Oh well.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **If you're under the legal age of consent in your resident country or the kind of person who's easily triggered by stuff (death, gore, violence, rape/noncon, suicide, abuse, self harm, mental illness, blahblahblahthislistisnonexhaustive), close this fic. _Do not come back._**  
> 
> For the people who came from the oumasai/saiouma tag, here ya go. Take note you will have to suffer through a few chapters of saimatsu before Ouma even stands a chance with his beloved detective, hence the tag 'slow burn'.
> 
> I promised at least three of you that Amami would not be tortured in this chapter, so here you go. I hope you enjoy this, you sick fucks. (But hey I'm the author I'm even worse than you guys-)

Right after Saihara exited the bathroom, he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," he called, unwrapping the plastic bag that was used to shield his broken arm from water. It was probably Tojo with his breakfast, seeing as she was the one to bring him food in the morning for the past two days. But when the door opened, he was greeted by Gonta's imposing figure. Saihara gaped when he saw that Gonta was wearing the school uniform.

He had seen the school uniform on a few people, namely Tojo, Akamatsu, Amami and Momota when they came to visit. Both the boy's and girl's uniform consisted of a white dress shirt and a black blazer with pockets on each side. The school logo was emblazoned on the breast pocket of the blazer in silver, and the ties were color coded in accordance to their talent classification; red for physical, blue for magical combatants and green for magical non-combatants. Boys wore long, matching pants while girls wore a pleated skirt and white knee-length socks.

Saihara had also seen modifications being made to the school uniform. Momota, in particular, never buttoned his blazer, wore his blazer with the right sleeve out and the first button of his dress shirt undone, with the tie hanging loosely around his neck. Amami rolled up the sleeves of his blazer and dress shirt to his elbows. Akamatsu and Tojo both wore their school uniforms properly, though he knew from experience there were probably one or two girls rolling up their skirts to make them shorter.

Gonta, however, made the school uniform look completely different. It was probably because of his sheer muscle mass that made the school uniform look like it was about to explode, the buttons of his blazer looking like they were about to pop at any second. Saihara absently wondered if the seams of his clothes would hold. Notably, Gonta was not wearing the standard dark brown shoes, instead opting to go barefoot. Maybe they just did not have his shoe size.

Gonta scratched the back of his head nervously. "Um, Gonta come to carry Saihara-kun to testing."

A cold dread settled in Saihara's stomach. "I- I have to go?" He knew it was coming, logically; they wanted to test his healing speed and would have to check up on him sooner or later, but he thought he would have at least a week before he was called upon.

"Sorry!" Gonta cried. "Gonta no can protect you. If someone called by Handlers, person must go no matter what!"

Saihara took in a deep breath. It was not something he could avoid, and he would have to face it sooner or later. He forced a smile on his face. "It's okay, Gonta-kun. I think I can walk there myself."

"Gonta insist! Saihara-kun not familiar with Academy, so it take him longer to go! Gonta not want Saihara-kun to be late!"

Saihara nodded hesitantly. "Alright, then. Thank you, Gonta-kun. But, um... could you let me get changed into my school uniform first?" He had been dressed in the school tracksuit for the past few days because it was significantly more comfortable than the school uniform, so that was what he got dressed in when he came out of the shower.

"Gonta think Saihara-kun no need to change! Experiments use talent, and when using talent students wear tracksuit." Without warning, Gonta swept Saihara off his feet and carried him out of the room bridal style. Saihara squealed involuntarily as Gonta hoisted him over.

To his surprise, Gonta was very careful with Saihara. He made sure not to jostle Saihara in his hands while walking, taking extra care not to touch his injuries. When he went down the stairs in the courtyard, he made sure to observe Saihara with every step to make sure he was not accidentally hurting the other boy. "You're a very gentle person, Gonta-kun," Saihara commented after they stepped into the elevator in the Shrine of Judgement. 

Gonta smiled brightly. "Thank you, Saihara-kun. Gonta knows he looks big and scary, so Gonta try to help people to make people less scared! That what true gentleman do!"

Upon hearing Gonta's words, Saihara felt a pang of guilt. He had initially thought that the bigger boy would be rough and would not be able to control his strength, but he had obviously gotten the wrong impression. Because of people like him who constantly judged others by their appearances, Gonta had to put in more effort into proving that he was a good person.

Eventually, the elevator reached its destination. The doors opened, and a man with unkempt dark hair stood in front of them. "Hmph. You're finally here. Gokuhara, you can go." Gokuhara put Saihara down and went back up as instructed. The man waved, obviously asking Saihara to follow him. Saihara then realized something, Gonta did not take his crutch along with him, so he had to limp awkwardly in an attempt to keep up with the impatient researcher.

The man ushered him into what looked like an operation room. There was an operating table in the middle of the brightly lit room, and some scalpels and other tools he did not recognize. His heart started beating faster.

"So, how have you been healing up?" The man asked.

"N-normally?"

"Let me see." He lifted up Saihara's shirt and tore off the bandages roughly, eliciting a hiss of pain from Saihara. "Hmm, yeah. 72 hours after injury, the tissue still looks... hmm." He snapped on some latex gloves and examined the wound while Saihara clenched his teeth to try and stop his cries of pain from escaping.

"Is there something wrong?" Saihara asked when the man was done.

"Shut up and don't talk unless spoken to," the man snapped. Saihara flinched but did not utter a word.

"He's boring," the female researcher with pink hair said. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar to Saihara. It then clicked in his head: these two were the ones who was at the first session of testing. So her name must be Enoshima. "He's just a normal human. How despair inducing."

"Not everyone has an elevated level of healing like Gokuhara, Tojo and Momota."

Enoshima shrugged casually. "Oh well, it was worth a shot. So we're testing his pain tolerance today?"

"We are," the man said as he snapped off the gloves and dumped them into a biohazard bin. "Tsumiki, strap him to the operating table and make preparations. No anesthetic."

"Y-yes, Matsuda-sensei." The nurse - Tsumiki - rushed forward and started taking off Saihara's clothes and unwrapping his bandages. She also started to chip at his cast to take it off. He blushed at his nakedness but did not dare comment lest he got shocked or worse, killed.

Enoshima cooed. "Ooh, this is the fun bit! Can I do the honors? Can I? Pleeaase, Yasuke~"

Matsuda sighed. "Fine. I'll sit back and observe then."

"Yay! Yasuke, you're the best!" She skipped off happily, returning in a few minutes in a surgeon's gown and a mask. Matsuda had relocated himself outside the operating room and was watching from the outside via a one way mirror. Tsumiki had finished taking off the cast and started strapping Saihara down onto the table with leather restraints, making sure they were tight so that he could not escape. When that was done, she placed two familiar bracelets on his wrists and got changed into an operating gown herself.

Saihara stared at the ceiling and tried to think about something else. Anything. But the clinking sound of tools always brought him back to reality.

"Oh, and don't worry about passing me any tools, Tsumiki-senpai. Just focus on healing him and making sure he doesn't pass out."

"Y-yes! I'll do my best!"

Saihara felt a wave of relief as the healing magic knitted his flesh and bones together, then screamed as Enoshima dug the scalpel into his arm. His limbs strained against the restraints but he was not strong enough to break free. He stared at the ceiling as the cycle of healing and wounding repeated, tried to look anywhere but their masked faces and the bloody tools in their gloved hands. He knew they were talking and recording data and taking notes because he could hear their voices, but he could not understand a word they were saying. Every part of his brain was focused on the pain, his primal instincts trying to find a way to escape. 

Whenever he was on the edge of blacking out, the healing magic would bring him back to consciousness, then another part of his body would have its flesh dug out or bone shattered. He did not know how long he spent screaming for mercy, but eventually his throat grew sore and he could not scream any more and was simply reduced to whimpers and tears. He learnt that the more he begged, the more the sadistic woman twisted her scalpel further into his abdomen.

"Junko, we've got more than enough data."

"Aww, but it was just getting fun. What time is it?"

"Three. Ouma should be here soon."

"I'm hungry. Yasuke, get lunch with me. Or is it dinner? Linner? Oh! The British call it tea!"

"Tsumiki, get Ouma to carry Saihara back. I'm too lazy to tutor him today."

"Y-yes!"

"Shit, why can't I overwrite Kirigiri-san's medical leave? We healed him, didn't we?"

"Technically, she's of a higher rank than us. We need to get a division leader to cancel it."

"Aww. Oh well."

Saihara flinched violently as the healing magic washed over him. He learnt long ago that as soon as the healing magic came, he would be hit with an even worse pain. But this time the restraints clicked open, allowing Saihara to draw his knees to his chest and curl up in a ball. He tried to ask if it was finally over, but all that came out of his throat was a rasped cry.

The nurse, however, seemed to understand. "It's over. Y-you're free to go. I-I'll help you put on your clothes, okay?" Without waiting for Saihara to respond, she gently pried his limbs open and pulled his top on, then held his legs down firmly as she wriggled his boxers and pants on. "D-do you need anything?"

Saihara whimpered and curled up even more.

He was not sure when the nurse left or when someone else entered the room, but it was certainly not the nurse who chirped happily, "Sorry for intruding!" The voice sounded vaguely male and was not stammering continuously, so he was sure it was not the nurse. "I'm Ouma Kokichi, the Ultimate Supreme Leader! I'm the leader of a secret, evil organization consisting of ten thousand members!"

Saihara clutched the edge of the operating table tightly. Another Ultimate was here. He would surely want to cut him open and leave him out to bleed. Maybe repeat the process of healing and injuring him over and over again-

"That was a lie! I'm actually a student here."

After hearing that, Saihara found himself calming down a little. He lifted his head slightly to look at the person talking and found that, yes, it was a student he was talking to. The collar and bracelets marked him as a student of the Academy. Saihara's eyes fell on the blue tie around his neck. Who among the students wore a blue tie? Iruma, Shirogane, Shinguji, Tojo and himself. But none of those people had purple tipped hair that seemed to fan out in every direction. 

"Do you need water? Food? Sleep? Sex? Anything for my beloved Saihara-chan!"

Maybe he was still dreaming, but he thought he heard the other boy offer _sex_ , of all things. "B-beloved?" Saihara croaked.

"Did Saihara-chan really believe I hold him in such high regard? Amami-chan is my true beloved."

That was right. Amami Rantaro, the boy who showed him around school on the first day, who used his talent for Saihara's sake to the point of harming himself. The boy who Saihara had slowly grown closer to over the past few days, who he treated like an older brother. He remembered Amami. If Amami knew this boy, then he could probably be trusted.

"Come on, let's get you outta here. You can sleep when you get to a bed. Nice, comfy bed, right? Zzzzz..." The smaller boy mimicked snoring noises in a rather dramatic fashion. Despite everything, Saihara found himself chuckling a little. He let himself be pulled up from the operating table and led outside in a daze, half leaning on the smaller boy for support on the way back. Only when they reached the dorms did it hit Saihara. This boy was the elusive Ouma Kokichi, the student he had not yet met because Ouma had been in solitary confinement. 

Ouma helped Saihara to his bed, then tucked him into bed. Just as Ouma was about to leave, Saihara reached out instinctively and grabbed on to the hem of Ouma's blazer. "C-can you stay for a while? I don't think I want to be alone," Saihara admitted.

Ouma turned around and nodded seriously. "Of course, of course! I told Saihara-chan I would do anything for him, and that wasn't a lie!" He sat on the edge of Saihara's bed, the bed dipping a little under his weight. "Does Saihara-chan want me to talk about something, or do you just want me to sit with you?"

"Will you tell me what your talent is?" Saihara asked.

Ouma hummed thoughtfully. "Ooh, Saihara-chan wants to know? Very well. I can tell you, but for a price."

"A price?"

He smiled brightly. "You have to kiss me on the lips."

"E-eh?" Saihara squeaked.

A glint of mischief appeared in Ouma's eyes. "And you have to do it willingly."

"I- I can't- aren't you- Amami-kun-" Saihara stammered. "Aren't you, you know... together with Amami-kun?"

At first, Ouma looked at Saihara like he had grown a second head. Then, he burst into an uncontrollable laughter. He fell on the bed beside Saihara, laughing non stop. "Where did you get that idea?" Ouma got out in between fits of laughter.

Saihara flushed. He had been so sure, and yet now that he thought about it he could not pinpoint where he got the idea. He remembered something about Ouma saying that he... liked Amami? Yes, that was it. "I thought you said Amami-kun is your beloved."

Ouma smirked. "Is Saihara-chan jealous of Amami-chan? That's okay! I can make Saihara-chan my beloved too!" His voice darkened, expression taking on a more serious tone. "Unless Saihara-chan is actually homophobic?"

"No!" Saihara denied vehemently. "I- I'm actually bi myself." He flushed deeply at the admission. Even though he had known for a long time that he was equally attracted to both men and women, he had never openly admitted it to anyone except his uncle. He never expect his first time coming out to be to defend himself.

Slowly, a grin spread on Ouma's face. "Oh? This is interesting. So you should have no qualms kissing me, right? Unless... you don't think I'm cute or worthy of your kisses?" Upon saying that, Ouma's lower lip started to tremble and he started to sniff dramatically.

As much as Saihara felt bad for making the other boy cry, he could not bring himself to kiss him. He thought about Akamatsu, who visited him for an hour after curfew every single day until she had to return to her room. "I'm sorry, Ouma-kun. I think I like someone else," he replied honestly.

Almost immediately, Ouma's tears were gone, replaced with slight mirth. "Well, at least you're not as dumb as Momota-chan. He actually kissed me."

"Huh?!" 

Ouma's eyes sparkled. "I know right? And he did it in front of Harukawa-chan too. Unlike me and Amami-chan, they're an actual couple. Can you imagine kissing another person in front of your significant other because they asked you to? No wonder Harukawa-chan hates me so much." 

A portal opened in his room, and Amami was on the other side looking the most furious he had even seen the other boy since he set foot in this Academy. "Ouma Kokichi, I am sick of your shit. Get in the portal or you'll be late to talent training."

"Eh?" Ouma cocked his head innocently, one hand on his chin. "I thought Amami-chan isn't supposed to overuse his talent anymore."

"I wouldn't have to if you weren't such a _pain in my ass,_ " Amami said through gritted teeth. Now that Saihara was aware of what the restraints did to Amami, he could actually see them pulsing around Amami's arms and neck, as if they had a life of their own. 

Not wanting Amami to be hurt even more, Saihara said, "Ouma-kun, go. Please."

Ouma held Saihara's gaze for a few seconds before nodding. "Well, if both my beloveds are asking, I can't say no!" He leapt off Saihara's bed and stepped into the portal, waving cheerily as the portal closed.

Saihara lay in bed, thinking about what happened earlier in the day. He could still feel the phantom scalpels and hands digging around his insides, touching him under his skin. But he forced those thoughts away from his mind with the sound of Ouma's fake snoring and eventually fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to downplay the gentleman aspect with Gonta because I find it annoying. I hate it. Gonta doesn't need to be a gentleman, he's pure enough as he is.
> 
> The image of Momota being goaded into kissing Ouma is hilarious for some reason. "Why, Momota-chan, are you a chicken?" "I'LL SHOW YOU CHICKEN YOU LITTLE SHIT-"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t die. I just went for surgery and have been in and out of the hospital for a bit. Better now, so I’ll update all my shit later. I don’t promise an almost daily schedule like I did before, but I’ll finish what I started.
> 
> Partly because I forgot why I wrote what I wrote and I have to refer to my notes again.

When Saihara took a shower the next morning, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He traced a line down his chest lightly, where they had cut him open and left him to bleed on the operating table. After that, he touched his face in the mirror. Not a single scratch remained on him. He averted his eyes and got dressed as quickly as he could, trying not to let his gaze linger on his bare skin. He stepped out of his room and let his feet carry him to the cafeteria automatically.

Tojo greeted him just as he walked in. "Ah, Saihara-kun. I was just about to bring you your breakfast. Are you not still on medical leave?"

He nodded and took a seat at an empty spot, the same one from before. "I am, but I'm fully healed now." Looking around the room, he saw that everyone was here, even the ever elusive Ouma Kokichi.

"Gonta glad! Gonta thought they take Saihara-kun down to make him suffer. Instead, they heal Saihara-kun!"

"Does it count as breaking rules if he attends class while on medical leave?" Harukawa asked from across the room, chewing on a piece of toast across from Momota.

"It does, but morning classes are fine. Saihara-chan's medical leave is classified under 16-B-04, which means he's been given leave by a division leader. Only division leaders can cancel that level of authorization and they aren't around all the time, so to subvert that they'll allow the student to attend non-physical classes if they're feeling up for it." Ouma looked almost bored as he recites the rules, absently picking under his fingernails as he does so. 

"How do you know every single rule in the Academy and get punished so much, Cockichi?" Iruma sneered.

Ouma only sneered back at her. "Duh, I know the rules so that I can break them. Can a stupid, smelly pig bitch like you even understand that much?"

"H-hiieee~!"

Yumeno yawned. "If I had medical leave and I was feeling perfectly fine... I wouldn't even go to class."

"I was just feeling a little restless from being stuck in bed," Saihara reasoned weakly. It would do him no good to admit that he did not want to spend time alone with only his thoughts for company.  _Weakness_ would do him no good. He had to be strong, if not for Amami and Momota and Tojo and Akamatsu, then to graduate and make it back to his uncle.

"That's understandable. So what's your first class?" Akamatsu asked, nodding as she does so.

"Japanese III."

Ouma leapt up from his seat, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "That's with me! Saihara-chan, come sit with us! We can walk to class together with my beloved Amami-chan and Tojo-chan and Shinguji-chan!" He bounced over to Saihara's seat and shoved Iruma aside, then plonked himself on Iruma's former seat. Iruma let out a slight moan and she crumpled on the ground in a heap.

"What about me?!" Momota roared. Saihara could see Harukawa wince slightly and cover her ears. 

Ouma's expression flattens again. "Oh, right. Momota-chan's in almost all my classes again. I forgot because Momota-chan's so insignificant."

"Damn it, we literally had classes together yesterday! And I am not insignificant!"

Amami laughed a little and ignored Ouma and Momota's squabbling. "Honestly, I'm glad the teacher is teaching our level and not the others. She's a little... passionate."

"Passionate?" Saihara asked.

"You'll see." A lazy, mischievous glint appeared in Amami’s eyes.

* * *

Their teacher was... unique, to say the least. She smelled bad and forgot what she was talking about every time she sneezed, but the way she made words dance and move to her tune confirmed her literary talent as an Ultimate. Her sentences seemed to deviate from the topic, then she would surprise them all by linking all these unrelated phrases together with a simple sentence.

After a while, she got tired of demonstrating her talent and snapped at them to pair up and come up with examples of their own. Saihara’s head whipped around the classroom instantly, trying to find someone to be his partner. Ouma had already leapt at Amami and clung to him dramatically, eliciting a small chuckle from the older boy. He locked eyes with Momota, trying to get his attention, but to his surprise someone else took a seat next to him.

"You don't mind?" Saihara asked.

The masked boy laughed softly, his mask muffling the sound. "I was actually hoping I would get a chance to talk to you."

"Shinguji-kun... right?"

The other boy nodded. "You are correct."

He ducked under his desk to grab a sheet of paper to hide his nervousness, but the slight quake in his voice gave him away anyway. "Shinguji-kun, if I may ask... your talent is speaking to the dead, right?"

"It is. I may only speak to the spirits of women, though." Saihara remembered that he also needed something from the woman he wanted to speak to, and from the way Shinguuji regarded him coolly, he seemed to know that Saihara knew as well.

So, instead of asking what he initially wanted to ask, he asked, "Then why do you wear a blue tie? How do you use your talent for combat?"

A slight head tilt is the only thing that betrays Shinguuji’s surprise. "An astute question. You are a very interesting person, Saihara-kun. Very few people notice on their own."

"T-thank you?" He stammered out. 

"To answer your question, my older sister fights for me. Because of my sister, I have the ability to fight back."

"Where is your sister?"

"She lives in me, always."

Saihara blinked. "I... don't think I understand,” he admitted.

Shinguuji chuckled again. "That's alright. But consider this: at least I am honest about my talent."

"Are you referring to Ouma-kun?"

He shook his head. "Surprisingly, no. Ouma-kun keeps his talent a secret from us, yes, but he is also honest about being a liar. Some people are not so kind."

Saihara was shy, but he was not stupid. He was not academically inclined like Momota and Ouma, but the implications of certain words did not fly over his head. "What-  _who_ are you talking about?"

"Kukuku. I do not wish to interfere. It is rude of me to reveal the secrets of others. I only wish to observe. But know this, Saihara-kun: not everyone can be trusted, and your naivete will be your downfall."

This was a class about wordplay, an apt setting for their conversation. Shinguuji’s words made little sense, but they were genuine nonetheless. Saihara spared a glance at the masked boy, scribbling away archaic sentences from classic Japanese literature, and let his mind wander.

* * *

After Japanese, Saihara found Akamatsu bouncing towards him, Harukawa trailing behind her a little. “Saihara-kun! Maki-san and I have all our classes together. You have English II and Math I, right?"

Caught entirely off guard by her sudden appearance, he nods jerkily. "Y-Yeah."

She beamed. "Same as us, then!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the classroom, making his ears burn from their skin contact. At this rate, she would not even have to read his mind to know how he felt about her.

Once they reached their classroom, Akamatsu set her bag on her desk. “Umm, Maki-san sits beside me, but you can sit close to us for group projects and stuff. Just in case!”

Saihara nodded, and was jerked back slightly by Harukawa’s firm grip on his wrist. “...Saihara. Momota said you were a good person. So I'm trusting you. Don't let me down."

He took a deep breath, and released it slowly, his gaze darting to Akamatsu for a split second. "I won't, I promise." 

Harukawa moved to sit at another desk, leaving Saihara to sit beside Akamatsu.

**Author's Note:**

> [20180103: changed rating from 'mature' to 'explicit', added rape/noncon and underage into tags]  
> [20180104: merged chapter 1 and chapter 2]


End file.
